


Direwolves in Bravvos

by EricaNoelle180



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-14
Updated: 2016-03-14
Packaged: 2018-05-26 14:49:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6243946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EricaNoelle180/pseuds/EricaNoelle180
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While watching her target, a Faceless Man sees someone she had thought she would never lay eyes upon again. Death was easy to her but she felt the spark of life resurface deep inside of her. Perhaps she wasn't as dead as she had thought.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Direwolves in Bravvos

**Author's Note:**

> So this little item popped in my mind...a bit tamer than most of my writing but I hope you like it anyway.

Braavos

 

It had been a long winter. The Many Faced God took many lives during the dark time. Now, summer was upon them and the Purple Harbor had the sun beating down on the locals; an unnatural occurrence as Braavos always had fog lingering around. The beautiful weather had the Braavosi enjoying the market. She had been there a few times on assignments; searching out her next victim. Years had past since she ever uttered her real name and her ledger had grown so red that she lost count of her kills. Her training was finished and now she was a full fledged member of the House of Black and White. 

There was a man marked for death in the Purple Harbor. He was nothing special, or at least she didn't think so, but someone wanted him dead and was willing to pay a pretty coin for it. So, she was in the Purple Harbor wearing a face that didn't belong to her. She was selling oysters, playing the Cat of Canals game again. It was an old alias and no one questioned her on it but it allowed her to have some connection to who she was. Other Faceless Men believed she shed her identity just as they had but they didn't know about the sword hidden beneath the rocks. 

She leaned back on the stone steps watching her target. An older man who had a tendency for young girls. H'ghar stated that the man who issued the contract was concerned that this man was preying on his young daughter, making it easier for her to kill him; not that killing bothered her anymore. She had been at this for days, waiting for the perfect moment. He always had people around him, mainly girls perched on his lap. Tomorrow she thought she would have to be one of those girls. The closer she was, the easier it would be to kill him. She was small and with the right face, it would be easy to be the small child girl he desired. She was so completely endorsed in her target that she drowned out the sound of those around her. It took something drastic to pull her focus.

“Lady Lannister!” The name caused her to drop the oyster that was in her hand. Her eyes stormed the crowd, looking for that infamous blond hair that still haunted her dreams. While many names on her list have been crossed off, there were still a few that lingered. Cersei. Yet, the former Queen of Westeros was not in the crowed. No, the last she heard she was waging a personal war with the new Queen, Margaery of House Tyrell while her son, King Tommen sat back and did nothing.

She found no long blonde hair swaying in the light breeze but what she did see was a tall woman with long red hair, standing directly in front of her cart. Her heart stopped and she couldn't breathe. The woman was beautiful and it felt like a vision; something she had been longing for since she ran from the executioners block where Ice was swung, taking her father's head. Before her was a woman she thought she would never see again because the last time her eyes laid upon her, the red head was nothing more than a girl; but that girl was gone. 

“Sansa.” It came out as a whisper and the identity she worked so hard to bury was creeping toward the surface. Arya. Her name was Arya. Her sister and the last remaining family she had left. The last she heard of Sansa were whispers that she had killed King Joffrey. Queen Cersei put a bounty out for Sansa's head but remained unfound. She had no clue of Sansa's whereabouts or what had happened to her....until now. 

“Do not call me that.” Sansa snapped and Arya's false eyes traveled to a smartly dressed older man beside her. It was her target. He reached out to touch Sansa but she recoiled her hand from him as though she had been burned. Sansa knew of this man and what he was known for. Arya could tell that Sansa had been in Braavos for good while and Arya wondered how she missed it. Perhaps she turned more into a Faceless Man more than she had thought. “What do you want?”

“Lannister, that is your surname, isn't it?” The man gave her an appraising her. Arya saw Sansa tense and it appeared as though Sansa wanted to kill the man. Her nails dug into her white skin, leaving crescent moon marks on her arm while her other hand played with the purple silk dress she was wearing. “Where is your husband anyway? You've been here for nearly a year but I have not seen the proud Tyrion Lannister once. It appears that you keep company of another. How would he feel of such things?”

“Tyrion and I have been estranged for years.” 

“Seven years I believe? Since King Joffrey's murder? Both fleeing but separately, your whereabouts remain a mystery to most of the world while Tyrion councils the Dragon Queen of Meereen?” The man chuckled. He reached out and look one of Sansa's red curls in between his fingers and pulled; causing the curl to bounce “I will make you an offer. Give me what I want. If you don't a raven will find it's way to your sister-in-law locating not only you, but both your husband and your lover.” Blackmail. Her sister was being blackmailed. “Two days. I give you two days and until then, keep your bastard close.” Arya wouldn't wait until tomorrow, this man would die today. The man walked away, disappearing around a corner near the sea. Once he was completely out of sight, Sansa began to look around frantically. Arya could tell that her sister was terrified as though something precocious was lost. 

“Lyanna!” Sansa signaled her guards and they all spread out, searching. Sansa ran her hands through her hair as she impatiently waited. Arya hadn't noticed that Sansa was being trailed but by the looks of it, it appeared that she was used to it. She was protected at all cost and the guards appeared to be dedicated to her. The wait was short because only after a few moments, Sansa went to her knees and held out her arms and a small girl, no older than five with long black hair ran into her arms. “Oh sweet girl. Don't scare me like that.” 

“I was looking at the sea shells Mommy. Can I have one?” Sansa laughed and just held the small child in her arms. Sansa's bastard child. Everything came clear to Arya then. This small girl was her niece and her sister's bastard child; and her target wanted the child for his own sick pleasures. This young girl may not have the surname of Stark but she had Stark blood flowing in her veins; something Arya had wondered if she was the last of. “Please!”

“Lyanna Stone, what am I to do with you?” Sansa smiled at her child and lifted her into her arms. The girl's legs wrapped around her mother's waist while her arms went around her neck. Sansa pushed a black curl behind her ear and kissed her forehead. Arya watched the interaction with interest as the name 'Stone' rolled around in her head. This child was born in the Vale of Arryn and Arya wondered when Sansa had been in the Vale. Sansa fled King Joffrey's murder, never to be seen again; only to resurface in Braavos seven years after his death with a bastard child that would have been conceived and born in the Vale. Who was the father? How did Tyrion, Sansa's husband, fall into this puzzle? Did he know of his wife's child? Did he care? Why was she living in Braavos of all places? “Miss, how much? Miss?” Arya snapped out of her thoughts and forced a smile. 

“Sorry, two coins for a dozen.” Arya replied but couldn't take her eyes from Sansa. She took in every detail of her. Her face had aged in the ten or so years since she had seen her. This face had seen terror, death and pain. Yet, she wore a kind smile and it was warm. The eyes reflected intelligence and wit. Arya remembered that her sister was always smart but naive. Now there was wisdom behind those icy blues. King's Landing had not been kind to her sister and Arya couldn't imagine the terrors she must have endured. She remembered how much her sister wanted to be a great lady of Westeros so, she gave her sister a curtsy, causing her to giggle.“My Lady.”

“I'm no lady. Not anymore.” Sansa was still smiling. She reached into a small purse and gave her three coins. “We will take a dozen and an extra coin for your trouble. Give the oysters to one of my men here.” With that Sansa turned back to the girl in her arms and tickled her stomach, causing Lyanna to shriek. “How does that sound sweet girl? Oysters for dinner? I'm sure Papa will be pleased!” With that Arya handed the oysters to one of the guards and watched Sansa carrying her daughter off. Once Sansa was out of sight, Arya abandoned her cart and went in search of her target.

**

The man was dead but Arya couldn't make her way to the House of White and Black. She normally would have, shown proof of her kill and collected her payment; moving on with her next target. However, that can wait. Tonight, she tracked down the villa that her sister was now living in. It was easy, asking the right questions to the right people and she was on the balcony two hours later watching as Sansa brushed her long red hair at a vanity. The room was lit by candle light and the door toward the balcony was cracked; allowing a breeze to enter the room. 

It wasn't a castle that Sansa always dreamed of but the villa was beautiful. Whomever brought her here and whomever fathered her child was wealthy. This was Sansa's happy ending, no matter the differences in what she had imagined. Arya was happy for her. Sansa probably imagined that all of her family was dead and that she had to make her own way in the world. Arya debating allowing Sansa to believe that and continue on with the path she had chosen. 

“Sweetling, I have news.” Arya's eyes moved away from her sister and toward the chamber door that just opened. Arya sucked in a breath at the man who was leaning against the doorway. Littlefinger. She had forgotten about him. Never once had she thought on him in the years since her retreat from King's Landing, except that breif encounter at Harrenhal, and she never thought that Sansa would end up with such a man. Arya had assumed that the father of her child was young and knightly; not someone who was old enough to be their father. 

Sansa turned and stood. She walked toward him and went into his open arms. For a moment Arya wondered if the relationship was forced but this was a level of comfort that Arya was not prepared for. It was the same affection that their parents shared and now her sister had that type of relationship. While Arya couldn't imagine having such a man, her sister appeared happy. 

“What is it?”

“He is dead.” Sansa clutched her chest and let out a cry of happiness. She kissed Littlefinger and brought him close. Once they pulled apart, she buried her face into his neck. Littlefinger kissed the top of her head and they stayed like that for a moment. Sansa pushed away and they sat upon the trunk that was pushed up against the fourposter bed. She ran her fingers through her loose hair and closed her eyes in relief. 

“Thank you.” 

“No need to thank me.” Littlefinger moved to stand in front of her and he took her hands into his. He kissed the back of them. The way he looked at Sansa left no question in Arya's mind that this man loved her. She didn't understand it but Arya knew love when she saw it. She had watched lovers day in and day out before she took their lives. Love was easy to spot. “I supplied such desires for years. I know what it looks like. Do you honestly believe that I would allow anyone to touch my daughter?”

“Of course not.” Sansa stood and turned away from him. Arya knew that Lyanna's, their child's, safety had been a disagreement between them. Suddenly it dawned on Arya that Littlefinger was the man who hired the Faceless Men to take care of the pedophile. He was willing to give massive amounts of gold to protect his bastard's daughter's innocence. “You would do anything for Lyanna. I know that.”

“I would do anything for you too.” With that he wrapped his arms around Sansa's middle, bringing her close. “I would burn entire kingdoms to keep you, Lyanna and any children we have safe. You're my only weakness and one I will keep safe until my dying days.” He kissed her shoulder. “I killed the king for you. I smuggled you out of King's Landing. I killed my wife because of her treatment of you. I brought you and Lyanna here, to my ancestral home, to keep you safe when the Kingslayer got too close.” 

“I know.” Sansa turned and kissed him lightly. “I know. You've done so much. You would've had Tyrion killed if I didn't ask you not to. You have given me so much and yet I have given you so little. You've made me happy, something I thought I would never be again. I can only hope I make you just as happy.” Littlefinger leaned in again and kissed her. This kiss was more passionate and Arya felt the need to look away. 

“You've made me far more than happy. I once told you that I wanted everything and that is what you have given me. You gave your body and your heart. You are the mother of my child.” Littlefinger's eyes traveled over her shoulder toward the balcony and just as quick, he had Sansa behind him. “Who are you?” Arya realized that she had been spotted and decided to enter the candle lit room. Littlefinger's eyes flickered toward the nightstand that had a dagger resting upon it. Arya knew that he wouldn't make it in time for she would have that dagger long before he lunged for it. However, she wasn't going to kill them. She never meant for them to see her. This was only meant to be a final goodbye. 

“Don't you recognize me?” 

“You're the girl who sold us the oysters.” Sansa breathed but Littlefinger saw through her. He smirked, knowing exactly what she was, if not who she was. His back was still straight, on guard. Sansa was still in fear, not knowing what this girl was doing in her private chambers. While Littlefinger's eyes looked toward the dagger, her's went toward the open chamber door, worrying about her child. 

“You already received your payment. I believe it was given to your masters.” Littlefinger stated. It had been and Arya knew a handsome amount of gold was waiting for her once she returned back to the House of Black and White. “I'm certain you will find the reward for your services perfectly suitable.” 

“Don't you recognize me?” Arya then remembered that she still wore a false face. Of course Sansa wouldn't see her. She was hidden. Arya slowly reached up to her face and took away the face that hide her's. Once Sansa realized who she really was, she sucked in a breath and moved around her lover. It appeared that Littlefinger was just as shocked as Sansa. 

“I'm not an easy man to surprise but I must congratulate you because surprise me you have.” Neither Arya nor Sansa paid him any mind. Their focus was solely on each other. Sansa reached out and traced Arya's face as though it was one of the wonders of the world; it was like she had never seen anything so beautiful. As quickly as the face was taken away, Arya found herself in a bone crushing hug in her sister's arms. Never before could Arya remember being hugged by Sansa. “If you promise not to kill her, I'll leave you two alone.” 

“I could never kill her.” It was a whisper and Littlefinger nodded. Neither heard him leave or close the door. Sansa took Arya's and and let her to the truck she had been sitting on previously. They both sat and couldn't take their eyes off each other. “When I saw you today, in the market I thought I was going mad. I couldn't stop staring at you. I was there watching a target when I saw you. I didn't know what to do. I heard you talking and him blackmailing you and I knew-”

“I thought you were dead. I thought everyone was dead.” Sansa stated cutting Arya off; a habit that used to annoy Arya but it felt bittersweet that the moment. There were tears falling down her cheeks. During her training Arya had learned to hold her feelings back (not as far as they would like) but Sansa still felt everything. The relief that she still had family in this world was far to much to bear. Sansa wiped the tears away and laughed. “I'm sorry it's just that I thought I had no family left. After Father being executed, Bran and Rickon being murdered by Theon, Robb and Mother being murdered at Uncle Edmure's wedding and I thought you were dead, buried in the ground somewhere; alone. And then I heard about Jon. His own men turning on him. All Starks were gone and I was the last one left. Yet, here you are.”

“I heard about Jon. It made giving up my name so much easier. I thought you all were gone too. After Joffrey was murdered and you went missing, I heard nothing of you after that.” Then, Arya started laughing and Sansa just looked at her. Sansa couldn't help but laugh with her even though she had no idea what she was laughing at. “I'm sorry.” Arya held up her hand before clutching her chest. “I'm sorry. I just...here you are, living in a beautiful villa with Littlefinger and his child. Out of all the outcomes I imagined, this was not one of them! Littlefinger?!” 

“I know. I know. If Father saw me he would be rolling in his grave but you don't know Petyr like I do. Littlefinger is a mask he wears; just another part of the game.” Sansa smiled, lost in thought. Arya had saw the way Littlefinger looked at her sister and she knew he loved her but here, watching Sansa speak of him made Arya realize that she love him back. “He saved me. Killed Joffrey for me. Smuggled me away. Kept me hidden in the Eyrie for as long as he could. I bore his child and I hope to bare another and another. Braavos is my home now, with him.” Sansa reached out and took Arya's hand in hers. “With you if you stay, here. We have plenty of room.”

“I can't.”

“Petyr is the Iron Bank now. When we fled the Eyrie he took it over easily. He is powerful and has more gold than anyone in the Seven Kingdoms and the Free Cities. If anyone can get you out of your contract it is him!”

“No.”

“Arya-”

“Don't.” Arya pulled her hand away and stood up. “Sorry. No one has called me Arya in a very long time.” She looked down at her hands, twisting her fingers and picking at her nails. “I thought I had no one and gave up myself to the Faceless Men. I am a Faceless Man. I don't know how to be anything else.” Sansa stood with her cross arms and just looked helplessly at her sister. “Are you happy?”

“More than I have been in a long time.”

“Than that is enough for me.” Arya turned and picked up the discarding face. She placed it back in it's proper place. Arya's face faded away and she became someone else. Sansa looked upon this stranger's face and sighed; knowing that she wasn't going to win this battle. “But don't worry; you'll see me again. If anyone wants to harm that niece of mine or any other child you may have, let me know. Their deaths will be free of charge.” The stranger's face smile wistfully. “You know where to find me.” 

“Arya!” Arya ignored Sansa's call and stepped out onto the balcony. She stood up on the railing and looked over her shoulder, seeing her sister's wide eyes. Sansa put one foot in front of the other, rushing toward the balcony but was too late. “Arya!” Once she reached it, placing her palms on the railing that Arya had just stood on. Sansa looked down, fearing that she would see her sister's body at the bottom, but there was nothing. Arya was just gone; into the darkness. “Arya!” Nothing. Her voice just echoed into the black abyss. Realizing that her sister was out there, with talents that kept her from plunging to her death, made Sansa smile.

Sansa would see Arya again. She was certain of it.

**Author's Note:**

> So, what do you think? I actually had thought about this being sent in Pentos having both Sansa and Tyrion escape at the same time while Sansa was pregnant with Baelish's child (had a nice imagine of Sansa taking a long stroll with Varys). However, it just didn't work timeline wise. That and I don't see Petyr abandoning Sansa to Pentos (or to the North in the hands of Ramsey but THAT is a different matter). 
> 
> So then I thought about this and Arya seeing her long lost sister again...and I couldn't help myself.


End file.
